Jonathan Pitroipa

Jonathan Pitroipa

Pitroipa after a Bundesliga game with HSV in 2010.
Personal information
Full name	Beninwende Yann Jonathan Pitroipa
Date of birth	(1986-04-12) 12 April 1986
Place of birth	Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Height
Position(s)	Winger
Team information
Current team	Al Nasr
Number	11
Youth career
2004	Planete Champion
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2008	SC Freiburg	75	(16)
2008–2011	Hamburger SV	74	(6)
2011–2014	Stade Rennais	91	(14)
2014–	Al Jazira Club	16	(2)
2015	Al Nasr	0	(0)
International career‡
2006–	Burkina Faso	51	(14)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12 February 2015 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 November 2014

Beninwende Yann Jonathan Pitroipa (born 12 April 1986) is a Burkinabé footballer. He plays as a winger for Al Nasr in Arabian Gulf League. he joined from Al Jazira in the summer of 2015.

At the international level he plays for Burkina Faso, with whom he made his debut for in 2006. Since then, he has featured at the 2010, 2012 and 2013 editions of the African Cup of Nations, scoring two goals in the 2013 tournament as Burkina Faso reached the final. He was also chosen the Player of the Tournament.

Club career

Freiburg

Pitroipa played for Planete Champion in his native Burkina Faso until 2004 when he moved to Germany. In 2004, he signed with Bundesliga side SC Freiburg. He scored his first goal for Freiburg in a 3–3 draw with Greuther Fürth on 22 September 2006. He went on to make 75 league appearances, Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, and scored 16 goals.

Hamburg

In July 2008, he moved to Hamburger SV on a free transfer. In his last season in the Bundesliga with Hamburg, Pitroipa appeared in 26 games adding two goals and six assists. After the dismissal of head coach Armin Veh in March 2011, Pitroipa voiced his unhappiness with the coaching situation. Under new manager Michael Oenning, Pitroipa was relegated to a bit part role for the club and expressed his desire to leave Hamburg in search of regular football. Hamburg's new director of football Frank Arnesen, formerly of Chelsea, did not help matters either, bringing in many young players in an effort to freshen up the squad and start a new era.

Pitroipa's last game for the club came on the final day of the 2010–11 Bundesliga season, coming on as a 38' minute substitute for José Paolo Guerrero in their 1–1 draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach. Pitroipa made a total of 97 appearances for Hamburg, scoring six goals and adding ten assists. Pitroipa's exit from the club was part of a mass exodus of star names, as Frank Rost, Ze Roberto, Joris Mathijsen, Piotr Trochowski and Ruud van Nistelrooy were also shown the door.

Pitroipa during his spell with Freiburg

Stade Rennais

On 7 July 2011, he completed his transfer to Stade Rennais for £3.16million, well under the €5 million desired by Hamburg. Rennes were keen on securing the signature of the Burkina Faso international for a long time, impressed by "his pace and dribbling skills." In his first official appearance for his new club, Pitroipa scored a brace against Georgian side FC Metalurgi Rustavi in the first leg of their Europa League Playoff tie on 28 July 2011. Pitroipa made his Ligue 1 debut with Stade Rennais in their league opener against newly promoted Dijon on 7 August 2011, which ended in a 5–1 victory for Pitroipa's side. He helped in the build-up for the opening goal, delivering a long pass to Abdoulrazak Boukari who then flicked it on to Victor Hugo Montano who slid it in. This marked the first time in 9 years that Rennes scored 5 goals in a Ligue 1 game. The following weekend Pitroipa scored his first Ligue 1 goal for Rennes in their 1–1 draw with PSG on 13 August 2011. His 88th minute equalizer denied the free-spending capital club their first win of the season and ensured that his side remained undefeated from their opening two league outings.

After defeating Metalurgi Rustavi 7–2 on aggregate, Rennes were drawn against Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League Play-off. Pitroipa started the first leg at the Stadion FK Crvena Zvezda in Serbia and continued his fine goal-scoring form, netting the equalizing goal for his side in the 41st minute. Substitute Victor Montano grabbed the winning goal for the visitors in the second half, putting them in a comfortable position to advance to the group stages of the Europa League. Rennes won the second leg in convincing fashion, 4–0, to advance to the group stages.

Pitroipa beat Bakary Kone to the ball and shot past Hugo Lloris to help Rennes record a 2–1 victory over Lyon on 18 November and move up to fourth in the Ligue 1 table. On 4 March 2012, Pitroipa turned in a "Man of the Match" performance against Lorient as he scored a brilliant 25-yard strike with his left foot and then provided an assist for Youssouf Hadji, the man who set up Pitroipa's goal, to earn a 2–0 victory. After a mazy run through four Evian defenders, Pitroipa lofted the ball over onrushing goalkeeper Stephan Andersen as Rennes won 3–1 on 7 April to boost their bid for European football. In Rennes game against Nice on 16 April, Pitroipa dribbled past Didier Digard before slotting the ball home, giving Rennes a 3–1 victory and putting them two points away from a Europa League spot. Pitroipa helped Rennes finish in sixth place on 60 points, thanks to scoring a goal in their 5–0 defeat of relegated Dijon on 20 May 2012, the result was not good enough to secure European football for 2012–13 though.

Pitroipa scored his first goal of the Ligue 1 season on 25 August 2012, as Rennes registered their first victory of the campaign with a 3–2 defeat of SC Bastia, also providing the assist for Mevlüt Erdinç's strike. He scored the winning goal for Rennes a minute from time against ESTAC on 2 December, completing a come back victory from 1–2 down to seal a 3–2 win and a third straight Ligue 1 victory.

International career

Pitroipa made his debut for Burkina Faso in 2006. On 20 June 2009, Pitroipa scored a 27th-minute goal against Côte d'Ivoire to put the score at 1–1 and a later own goal put his side into a 2–1 lead before a late fightback from the Elephants secured a 3–2 victory for Côte d'Ivoire in the third round of CAF 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying.

He was part of the final squads at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola and the 2012 edition in Equatorial Guinea.

Following his success in Ligue 1, Pitroipa was called up to the Burkina Faso squad to the 2013 African Cup of Nations. In the tournament, he scored an injury time goal against Ethiopia in their second group game, securing a 4–0 victory for his country. Burkina Faso advanced out of the group stage and into the quarter-finals of the competition where they faced Togo on 3 February, and Pitroipa scored the only goal of the game in the 105th minute to send the Stallions into the semi-finals. Pitroipa was controversially sent off in the semi-final game of the competition against Ghana, when he was booked for simulation in the 117th minute while it appeared that he had been fouled in the penalty box. The Stallions overcame his sending off and won 3–2 in the penalty shoot-out after the game had finished 1–1 after extra time, booking the country's first ever trip to the African Cup of Nations final. The red card was later overturned by the CAF executive committee after referee Slim Jedidi admitted to having made a mistake by showing the second yellow card. Burkina Faso lost in the final to Nigeria by a score of 1–0, but Pitroipa was named as the "Player of the Tournament" by CAF.

Coaching career

In October 2008 he established, with Burkina Faso teammate Wilfried Sanou, the Kada School. The club is owned by his father Miki Jean-Baptiste Pitroipa and Sanou's mother.

External links

• Official website (German)
• Jonathan Pitroipa at kicker.de (German)
• Jonathan Pitroipa profile at Fussballdaten